As healthcare costs continue to balloon, plan sponsors are under pressure to contain costs. Point solutions, which include virtual care options, mental health support, fertility benefits, and more, allow plan sponsors to provide targeted care for the needs of their specific member populations. Point solutions are becoming increasingly popular as a cost-mitigation strategy. In fact, plans today offer an average of nine point solutions.
While plan sponsors see clear value in offering the point solutions to their members, these members often lack the awareness or knowledge of how to access these resources. Maximizing the utilization of point solutions reduces unnecessary office visits and can dramatically lower overall healthcare costs. Here are three ways that innovative third-party administrators (TPAs) will partner with their clients to maximize the utilization of point solutions to contain costs.
Increase awareness of point solutions
Over 80% of large companies offer a point solution in at least one of these areas: smoking cessation, weight management, and behavioral or lifestyle coaching. But the problem is that members are not aware that their point solutions exist. How can TPAs solve this?
- Partner with your clients and/or the point solution vendor to run internal marketing campaigns.
- Encourage employers to promote during open enrollment.
Promote point solutions at the time of search
While the surge of point solutions has immense advantages, each solution represents yet another aspect of healthcare for plan members to keep track of. This added complexity contributes to why only half of employees understand their benefits and are overwhelmed. One way to address this is by utilizing a healthcare navigation solution. These tools allow TPAs to:
- Integrate point solutions directly into the healthcare navigation solution to ensure search results will surface with any relevant point solution — for every query.
- Make point solutions more accessible and understandable to members. This will simplify the navigation experience so members know how to find them in the moments that matter.
Create incentive programs to drive utilization
Nearly 75% of all healthcare costs are associated with chronic diseases, most of which are preventable. If your clients are investing in point solutions to address specific needs, how do you ensure that members utilize them?
Incentive programs are a powerful way to drive significant improvements in utilization. A few things to keep in mind:
- Explain that the value of incentives must be recognized in policy and practice.
- Share examples of incentive programs, including:
- Monetary or financial — gift cards, checks, or bonuses.
- Employee recognition.
- Autonomy/employee empowerment.
Proactively support your clients to contain costs
Healthcare can be expensive and overwhelming. But there are ways to proactively mitigate those issues. Increasing awareness of point solutions, promoting these resources at the time of search, or encouraging incentive programs to drive utilization will make point solutions more accessible and understandable for members — while containing costs for your clients at the same time.
This can all be accomplished with a seamless member experience by implementing a healthcare navigation solution, like Amino Health. The Amino platform makes high-value healthcare benefits more intuitive by delivering data-driven, personalized care recommendations that plan members will act on.
Are you interested in learning more? Download Discover the best way to contain costs for your clients eBook today.
